Steakpirate Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 When you submit a book to a publisher, if they decide they like it, do you have any obligation to them, and are they allowed to print your stuff? I doubt this will happen, but I thought that it would be really cool to send a book to publishers as a gauge for how good it is, and then self-publish if results are positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 When you submit a book to a publisher, if they decide they like it, do you have any obligation to them, and are they allowed to print your stuff?I doubt this will happen, but I thought that it would be really cool to send a book to publishers as a gauge for how good it is, and then self-publish if results are positive. Until you sign on the dotted line you're under no legal obligation (that I know of, I'm not a lawyer). But to submit under false pretenses isn't very nice. Still, if this is an over-the-transom submission chances are only the first five pages or so would be read anyway before they reject the beast. That goes for e-pub submissions as well. Bottom line: if the acquisition editor rejects it, no worries; if they accept it sign as quickly as you can because self-publication isn't nearly as profitable (usually, there are always exceptions). - Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 Not to crush your tender spirits, Steak Pirate, but we can only hope that you face such a choice. The chances of your sending in an unsolicited ms and being offered a contract that you can then turn down are quite a bit smaller than your chances of winning the lottery. Maybe smaller than the chances of spending your next birthday at a resort on Mars.... But let's assume you have extraordinary good fortune. You finish your book, you send it to one of the few U.S. publishers who agrees to look at unsolicited fiction mss. not submitted by a literary agent, and that editor offers you a contract. What would be the advantages of self-publishing, under those circumstances? It is sad but true that regular publishing still has more cachet, and at the very beginning of your career, it would benefit you to have a regular publishing contract. When you're Stephen King, you can do what you like. Meanwhile, Steve has promised to add ePub support to a future Storyist release, so you can at least see your beloved work in book form—and even read it on an e-reader, where it will look like all the other books you have there. Listen to Thoth, young Steak Pirate, and may the Force be with you! Marguerite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steakpirate Posted November 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 Not to crush your tender spirits, Steak Pirate, but we can only hope that you face such a choice. The chances of your sending in an unsolicited ms and being offered a contract that you can then turn down are quite a bit smaller than your chances of winning the lottery. Maybe smaller than the chances of spending your next birthday at a resort on Mars.... But let's assume you have extraordinary good fortune. You finish your book, you send it to one of the few U.S. publishers who agrees to look at unsolicited fiction mss. not submitted by a literary agent, and that editor offers you a contract. What would be the advantages of self-publishing, under those circumstances? It is sad but true that regular publishing still has more cachet, and at the very beginning of your career, it would benefit you to have a regular publishing contract. When you're Stephen King, you can do what you like. Meanwhile, Steve has promised to add ePub support to a future Storyist release, so you can at least see your beloved work in book form—and even read it on an e-reader, where it will look like all the other books you have there. Listen to Thoth, young Steak Pirate, and may the Force be with you! Marguerite Thank you both for your informative responses! It's mainly that publishers are notorious for getting the better end of the stick by far. I suppose they are valuable in that they do the advertising/printing for you, and talk to movie companies, but if you could afford to do all that on your own, self-publishing would be more profit and half the risk. I like to fantasize about a perfect world, where I'm an undeniably fantabulous writer—so you'll have to forgive my naivete. I frolic in the hypothetical. And Re: Mars, if only I had a few billion to toss around... Still waiting for the Warp Engine, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Thank you both for your informative responses! It's mainly that publishers are notorious for getting the better end of the stick by far. I suppose they are valuable in that they do the advertising/printing for you, and talk to movie companies, but if you could afford to do all that on your own, self-publishing would be more profit and half the risk. I like to fantasize about a perfect world, where I'm an undeniably fantabulous writer—so you'll have to forgive my naivete. I frolic in the hypothetical. And Re: Mars, if only I had a few billion to toss around... Still waiting for the Warp Engine, You're welcome, of course—and who am I to get in the way of your fantasies? (In my private world, I'm an undeniably fantabulous writer, too, and any day now the publishing world will rip off its blinders and beat a path to my door.) Best, M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 In my private world I'm so good that no one will read anything else. Consequently, the world's publisher's have banded together to pay be billions not to write anything in order to save their businesses. (It's a bit like paying a farmer not to grow corn.) Governments let me live tax free and give me a free pass on every law in order to save their propaganda machines. But I have to wonder if an assassination attempt is soon to come. Fortunately I'll have the last laugh. For if I die my opus magnum will finally be released to the internet and civilization as we know it will come to an end. Mwah hah haha. - Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codemer Posted November 14, 2009 Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Governments let me live tax free and give me a free pass on every law in order to save their propaganda machines. But I have to wonder if an assassination attempt is soon to come. Fortunately I'll have the last laugh. For if I die my opus magnum will finally be released to the internet and civilization as we know it will come to an end. Not to burst your bubble, but I've already been contracted to write the worm that brings down everything on that day. The lesser of two evils. IF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted November 14, 2009 Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Not to burst your bubble, but I've already been contracted to write the worm that brings down everything on that day. ... On the day I'm killed? Isaac, I'm touched. Please thank my legions of fanatic minions for hiring you. “Après moi le déluge.”* - Thoth. * "After me, the Flood." - Louis XV (1710-1774). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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